


Eclipse

by Satellite_Of_Love



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: A short character study, AU-Dystopia, Also a short relationship study, Fluff, Getting Together, Humanity is buried under the earth because of some catastrophic even I never explain, M/M, Mutual Pining, Scientist Minsung, captain jisung, the sun and the moon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satellite_Of_Love/pseuds/Satellite_Of_Love
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, it is not difficult for the sun and the moon to coexist. They have always done it since the beginning of their lives and will continue to do it.Minho and Jisung are two scientists trying to save humanity and falling in love while at it.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73
Collections: MINSUNG FICATHON: Round One; 2020





	Eclipse

**Author's Note:**

> `Written for [MINSUNG FICATHON](http://twitter.com/minsungficathon), for PROMPT **P044**`
> 
> Frontdating now that the anonymity was revealed!
> 
> `Jisung is the sun and Minho is the moon.`
> 
> `Hope I was able to give some alternative life to this idea succesfully!`

Two realms separated by the spark of existence. Not impossible to meet, but unable to mingle without creating an engulfing shadow.

Two ways of interpreting the world, of understanding reality and meeting needs. Living on an almost everlasting disagreement.

It is difficult to communicate when none of the parts is willing to put a different lens on their reading of a situation.

In the land of sorrows, where humanity has had to face a mirror and have its own mortality look back, two souls of opposite nature meet. The tension created between them is only comparable to the one of electrons jumping from one atom to the next one.

It is difficult for the sun and the moon to coexist.

Quick-witted, agile and strong-willed, Han Jisung is the captain commanding one of the thousands of missions to re-locate humanity on the surface of earth. Mission Persephone is the name white people have put to it and it has stuck on them even though nowadays almost no one knows about the long-forgotten foreign gods.

It fits the situation; they have told him. It will be spring when they arrive. That is, if spring even is a thing anymore.

Quiet, taciturn and slow-paced, Lee Minho doesn’t have an official rank on the forces. He is too much of an individualistic man to have anyone leashing him into a fixated category. He comes and goes as he pleases, sometimes not even showing up to the meetings. But when he does…

‘’You have completely ignored this variable, Jisung,’’ Minho spits to him with a lack of respect considering their rankings -or lack of them- in the mission.

Everyone ein the room looks at him but no one gasps. They are used to this by now, the only thing left to do is roll their eyes and hope that the following debate won’t last two weeks like it has happened in the past.

Caught behind the light of the projector with a pointing laser in his hand and a twitching eye, Captain Han Jisung must once again face his biggest detractor.

‘’Lee Minho-ssi, we have already stablished that we are doing this with a 95 percent trust of not committing the Type One Error. We are, in fact, quite aware of the 5 percent chances we have at being mistaken.’’

‘’None of you understand this problem! We can’t simply pretend this is a statistical problem like any other. This is a qualitative issue. It is not 5 percent, if we take this variable into account the possibility of error becomes huge, and trust me, this variable is something we will most likely have to face.’’

All of Jisung’s subordinates stand still, looking at their captain with wonder in their eyes. There is a question lingering in the air. _Are you going to allow this kind of insubordination?_

 _Well, am I?_ Jisung wonders. He takes a glance as his plaque and wonders what the hell is he doing here in the first place.

When he took this position as a Captain, all he had been hoping for was to fulfil his one true dream of coming back to earth to see the sky. Now, the bureaucracy that came with trying to save humanity was something he had never asked for.

One thing was having to deal with people making unnecessary mess and saying stupid things, Jisung didn’t mind putting his commander voice and exerting domination over people with lower ranks than his when the situation demanded for it. But with Minho it was always difficult, how was he supposed to just discipline someone that has a fair and valid point? Isn’t that a highway into putting the mission at risk?

 _Power must be built_ , they tell him. _If you want the greater good you need people to follow you without question, to do as they are told_. But Jisung doesn’t like mindless followers, he wants active thinkers with the ability to make him think out of the box and force him to become an even better scientist.

A beeping sound comes out of the laboratory, making Jisung more nervous at knowing he must give an answer.

‘’You have no idea what you are talking about,’’ he says, turning the laser pen off, unable to meet Minho's eyes.

Things would be so much easier if Jisung didn’t crave Minho’s approval so badly. The reality is, Jisung is the one unsure of what he is even trying to say.

‘’Are you really going to act like this? I can see it in your eyes, you know I’m right,’’ Minho begs, but the argument starts and no matter how much effort they put in it, no one is able to stop them.

They yell back and forth for hours. At some point everyone else leaves. The clock tends to run faster when it comes to two genius minds discussing the best way to fulfil humanity’s biggest dream.

‘’Why are you doing this? I’ve told you; you can’t just come and spit your ideas. You need to respect my position as a captain, at least in front of others.’’

Minho grabs his hand in that tender way he reserves for his dear friend. An 180 degrees change in his demeanor.

‘’Let’s go to the laboratory to shut down that bloody alarm.’’

Minho doesn’t turn the light on when they enter the lab.

‘’Why do you have to fight me this hard every time?’’

‘’I just want to please you, Jisung. You want to get out of here so badly, I’m just here trying to make your wish true.’’

His voice sounds sincere, calmed. Different from the rush he had talked in before.

Minho has calmed down, like he always does when the two of them find themselves alone.

With only the red and green light of the multiple buttons around them, Jisung finds that he is no longer interest in discussing protocol and respect.

‘’Do you have any memories?’’ Jisung asks.

‘’Of the upper world you mean?’’

‘’Of the sun.’’

Minho swallows as memories of long buried times come forward. They swirl in his head and paint the image of a time in which he didn’t know how much he would miss everything he was taking for granted.

‘’It was like you,’’ Minho explains as he extends one hand to caress the skin of Jisung’s face. Soft, so soft and unpolluted. The warmth of the reddened cheeks travels through Minho’s nerves, heating up his fingers in a comforting way.

‘’Like me? What does that even mean?’’ Jisung laughs, almost uncomfortable with the metaphor, ‘’Was it annoying and hot-headed?’’

‘’In a way…’’

‘’Hyung!’’ Jisung hits him on the arm but allows Minho’s hand to keep on resting on his blushed face.

‘’I don’t get why you are mad; you were the one that asked.’’

‘’That’s because you probably have memories of it. I have nothing, just a blank, just a void filled with nothing but a desire for something I haven’t yet tasted.’’

The darkness of the laboratory surrounds them, but there is something particular about not being able to see anything.

With the edges of the world blurred - an event impossible under the light that gives everything in- the claustrophobic feeling of being locked down under the earth disappears for a second. If you can’t see something, does it really exist? Isn’t the viewer, the one measuring something what makes a thing happen?

Electrons behave like particles when they are under observation. Right now, the laboratory has turned into a wave, impossible to point out its limits.

They both feel a soft calmness settling in their stomachs. For a moment, space is granted to them. For a moment, reality is something malleable, changeable. For a moment, they have the option to choose.

‘’I can relate to that.’’ Minho says with an unreadable smile. He sighs and lets his hand go, missing the heat as soon as he loses contact. ‘’Come lie down with me.’’

Minho grabs their coats and puts them on the floor, creating something of a softer surface for them to relax on.

Following him, Jisung lies down on the floor, staring at the void in the ceiling and feeling the uncomfortable sensation of having the buttons of their lab coats pressing into his back.

‘’So how was it?’’ Jisung asks again.

‘’I think you would like the stars and the moon a lot more than you would like the sun. You two would have to compete for everyone’s attention.’’

Jisung scoffs.

‘’You do realize that sometimes it seems impossible to get a straight answer out of you, don’t you?’’

From his phone, Minho opens an app that makes the lantern have a pattern. Hundreds of white spots are then projected onto the walls of the room.

Stars.

With an opened mouth, Jisung can’t believe he is lucky enough to witness a replica that feels incredibly real. He stretches one hand up, watching the spots reflect on his hand, moving from here to there. Dancing in the dream that day has become.

‘’The light of the sun comes with an eight-minute delay,’’ Minho starts saying, ‘’The light you are seeing is actually eight minutes older than what the sun is projecting. It is right there, you know? Eight minutes is nothing, it is reachable, always there for you when you need it. That’s what the sun is. It is warmth, it is energy. But it is dangerous as well, you need to protect from it or otherwise you might get burned.’’

‘’Why do you think I would like the stars and the moon better?’’

‘’Well, the sun _is_ a star, but from our point of view it is the only star that truly matters. It is the king of the world and the giver of life. Like I said, you two would have to fight for the throne if you ever met each other. The stars and the moon are somewhat different. The stars are far away, for all we know we might be staring at a star that has been long dead. And the moon, the moon lights up, but it is always dim. Sometimes there is nothing to see and you must wait for the right time to get under its light. Then, when you least expected it, the reflection of the moon on water will become the most beautiful image you will have ever witnessed.’’

Silence reigns for a second as Jisung takes the information in.

‘’Like you,’’ Jisung says before he can think twice about it,’’ you come and go as you please, but when you do you have the most brilliant ideas.’’

‘’And you like me more than anything, don’t you?’’ Minho asks with a smirk, turning around to face Jisung.

With only an inch separating their noses, with the smell of each other imprinted on their senses, with the faint glow of their eyes in the dark and the warmth generated by the proximity of their bodies, Jisung doesn’t find the strength within to be anything other than truthful.

‘’You know I do.’’

‘’And you know I love you, don’t you?’’ Minho states casually, almost as if he was talking about the weather.

‘’No, I don’t, hyung. You are always hidden, looking for me when I’m not here, fighting my every order and trying to do things your way.’’

‘’Like you are any different.’’

Fumbling for the lighter he knows he must have somewhere, Minho stands up to look in the pockets of his lab coat. When he finds it, he makes a little victory noise.

Jisung, being used to the other man’s quirks by now, doesn’t even flinch when Minho gets closer to him and flicks the lighter, scorching the ends of the blond locks of hair and making Jisung wonder if he has a secret plan to make him bald.

‘’Now, what the fuck are you doing?’’ Jisung asks, already tired. It is too late to be dealing with Minho’s shenanigans. ‘’Are you trying to lighten up my hair? Because that’s not how it works.’’

But there is no answer as Minho gets closer, locking Jisung in a hug with one arm while burying his other hand in Jisung’s hair. Minho dives his nose into the blond hair and breathes in as if there wasn’t enough oxygen to satisfy his lungs.

Jisung shivers, feeling warm and happy to have such a weirdo in his mission. There is also a certain nervousness caused by the proximity of their bodies that is making a drop of sweat roll down his forehead.

‘’Now you smell like the sun,’’ Minho states.

‘’Like hydrogen and helium?’’

‘’No. More like burned and sweaty. Like what people smell like after being under the sun.’’

‘’How can you remember so much? You are only two years older than me.’’ Jisung shakes his head, amazed at the turn of events the evening had.

‘’Maybe it is more wishful thinking than it is real memories. In any case the images and smells are there, and that is enough for me to consider it real.’’

‘’You feel very real right now.’’ Jisung jokes

‘’Do I?’’ Minho is quick to laugh. His breath feels hot and tingly against Jisung’s head, ‘’how real do I feel?’’

‘’Almost as if you were locking me in the most uncomfortable hug I’ve ever received.’’

‘’You look way too comfortable in my opinion,’’ Minho leaves his mouth open, ready to talk some more, ’'I love you, Jisung.’’

Jisung's heart starts pounding like crazy. It doesn't matter how many time Minho has said it in the past, this time it feels more real than ever.

‘’I might love you, too, hyung.’’

‘’We will get out, but even if we don’t, I won’t ever miss the sun. I have it right here by my side.’’

‘’You are so cheesy.’’

‘’No, that’s just the truth, Jisung. You are the sun, getting up every morning to draw out path. We structure our lives around you, around your command. When you are here, we know where to go, we know where to put our efforts in. We know what the next step towards freedom is. And then when you are not…’’

‘’When I am not here, you come, with your mystery and wickedness to say something no one else had even thought of. You arrive and everyone else shuts down, mesmerized by your image and words. You are the force that makes waves, that takes everyone’s attention and pulls it into something new.’’

The tension created between them is only comparable to the one of electrons jumping from one atom to the next one. They need each other for the flux of current to keep everyone alive.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not difficult for the sun and the moon to coexist. They have always done it since the beginning of their lives and will continue to do it.

And if one day the sun lights down and the moon drafts away, still nothing will be able to tear the sense of accomplishment located in their hands. Two hands that will be held together for as long as time allows it.

So, their lips crush, both moist and dry, dusty and shiny. They meet each other at the rare times that their schedules allow it.

But every time an eclipse happens, the sun and the moon find the way to connect. Never overlapping, only making each other greater.


End file.
